South Korea Continues Purchasing Russian Gas Without Issues - Source

SEOUL (Sputnik) - South Korea's state-run gas corporation KOGAS still purchases Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG), does not plan to make any changes and is ready to discuss possible issues with Russia in good faith, a source in the South Korean gas industry told Sputnik on Saturday.

"KOGAS has no issues with Russia at the moment. If the situation changes in the future, KOGAS will discuss it with the Russian side in good faith in order to resolve an issue," the source said.

They noted that energy resources were not initially subject to sanctions, thus KOGAS was not supposed to have any problems. Meanwhile, long-term contracts are being implemented, deliveries from Russia have the same volume as before and the payment is done in dollars through a US bank and then another one in Japan. The company has not received a demand to pay in rubles. KOGAS also does not have LNG projects with Russia that had to be canceled or postponed.

The long-term contract between KOGAS and the Russian side includes a purchase of 1.5 million tonnes of LNG a year, which was about 4% of the company's purchases in 2021.

On February 24, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk requested help to defend them from intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops. Western countries and their allies, including South Korea, responded by imposing comprehensive sanctions against Russia and vowed to reduce dependency on Russian energy.